Perspective Archives

Subscribe to print Edition

If you are not a member of ADG, you can subscribe to the print edition of Perspective magazine, which is published 6 times per year. All you need to do is download the subscription form, and follow the instructions.

Above Image: IRON CITY ON THE FIRST DAY OF SHOOTING. THE TAQUERIA IN THE FOREGROUND AND IDO’S CLINIC TO THE LEFT THE CLEAN LINES AT THE TOP OF THE BUILDINGS ACCOMMODATE LATER VISUAL EFFECTS SET EXTENSIONS.

In October 2015, the first email pinged. Alita: Battle Angel’s preproduction began—for us. It had already been a long gestating project for producer James Cameron. Iron City was the big set, and the usual incentive “what ifs” came down the pipe. What if the film shot in Budapest? There was brief talk of shooting in Panama City. Steve Joyner and I believed we could bring Panama City to Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios (TMS) in Austin. So did Robert, who was set to direct. Part of the old Austin airport system, TMS was a flat palette with plenty of space on which to build a backlot. No worries if additional shooting was needed while the edit formed, the set would be right there. In the end, all parties agreed. Still, it would be nine months before the on-site build actually began.

This narrative covers the year and four months of physical production that was Alita: Battle Angel. The long slog that would follow for another two years, creating visual effects environments, I leave to they that know those travails best. Heroic endeavors all. The Alita landscape consists of Iron City, where “everyman” resides, and Zalem, the looming superstructure above. The remnant of a space elevator, the conduit connecting these upper and lower worlds, was long ago severed. Now Iron City serves Zalem. A spiderweb of pneumatic systems siphons all the wares Iron City produces up to Zalem. We read Jim Cameron’s early notes in the fall of 2015, where he referenced Panama as one of the science-based locales where a space elevator could exist. Equatorial proximity makes the concept possible.

A. PANAMA CITY PHOTO, A REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE IN THE SINGLE FRAME OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ZALEM AND IRON CITY. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.

Steve and I had traveled to Panama some years earlier. Stone ruins jut out of grassy fields at the city core. Casco Viejo, a neighborhood of colonial buildings (I related these to Doc Ido’s neighborhood) leads to concrete and rebar neighborhoods (Alita’s slum district) and gleaming glass structures on the skyline (Zalem). These extraordinary contrasts were a real-world match to the Alita landscape.

I began pulling photo references of Panama City and its neighborhoods, including Boca la Caja, El Chorrillo, the colonial Casco Viejo, as well as Colon, at the opposite end of the Panama Canal. Colonial Latin American cities we’d explored over the years, while working with Robert also made their way into Iron City. We’d worked in Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato and roads in-between. These settings tied in beautifully, as did early concept art, to producer Jon Landau’s missive that Iron City not be dystopian. Drawing from our experiences in Panama, and all manner of Latin American locales gave us a tactile footing on which to visualize Iron City. Real life. Real journeys. Vivid sets.

Quite by accident, I was able to reverse engineer the inspiration of early Iron City concept art. I’ve studied the layered textures of Havana’s buildings since Robert Rodriguez turned us onto the book Robert Polidori: Havana back in 2005. In addition, we devoured City of Darkness, Girard and Lambot’s book that chronicles the story of Hong Kong’s Walled City of Kowloon, leveled in 1993. Kowloon was one of Cameron’s key visual references. Digital set extensions would imbue the cityscape with Kowloon’s vertical language as Iron City built upon itself over the centuries.

It began by drawing a map. With script in hand and four-foot by eight-foot sheets of butcher paper laid out on a worktable, I began to “see” Iron City by plotting out the beats. Notes, sketches, arrows, dialogue snippets, dotted pathways. Keeping in mind the tone of locations in the Gunnm manga frames, the various “neighborhoods” began to reveal themselves. Ultimately, we developed a nomenclature so the crew could navigate its way through Iron City. At the same time, we began meeting with storyboard artist Marc Baird. We’ve worked with him for a couple of decades, so we can get right to it, blocking out scenes. He’s fast, and exceptional at creating dynamic beats in a sequence. He immediately tackled the Kansas Bar, Market Street, Ambush Alley and Motorball, all sequences with action. It was easy to visualize the movie early on based on his great frames.

We knew the critical concerns were good sight lines with plenty of depth down Iron City’s streets, and enough street width to get the shots, as echoed by Robert and director of photography Bill Pope. While the city footprint went through a number of iterations, plans came back around and stayed pretty true to the original layout.

Steve and I immediately set to the task of studying historic backlots using Google Earth, taking cues from those who’d already walked that road. Room for a camera crane, long lens shots, blue screens, cable access, stunt rigging that included several more cranes, truss spans—it was not a linear equation. We needed room for gyro bikes, tow rigs, Vector’s limo, various vehicles that would be fabricated and pedestrian traffic. It doesn’t matter how cool a set looks if it doesn’t work on the day of shooting. By the time of the build, there were forty-three scissor lifts on rental. Maneuvering equipment to build Iron City required a well-designed footprint with plenty of access points.

Supervising Art Director Todd Holland joined us in December. With his energetic tenacity came another layer of relentless attention to detail. I spent Christmas 2015 creating InDesign style sheets filled with photo references to provide tone, palette, dressing and architectural direction for Iron City, Ido’s clinic, Ambush Alley, Vector’s penthouse and Hugo’s crib. We were under pressure for a studio pitch. These style sheets complemented the keyframes and concept art Lightstorm had produced up to that point.

Producer Jon Landau then brought to bear the considerable forces in his domain, Lightstorm’s fleet of concept artists. Ben Proctor and Dylan Cole led a tenacious band of extraordinary artists; painting keyframes for the current script, answered questions regarding visual effects, set extensions and related queries. They worked on specific character design notes, the look of the Motorball players and of course, Alita. The tandem teaming of Lightstorm and Troublemaker made for the possibility of a successful pitch.

D. CONCRETE FOOTERS. THINGS THAT LOOK EASY, THAT JUST SEEM TO FALL INTO PLACE, COME FROM MONTHS OF 3 A.M. PLANNING AND EPIPHANIES. THE PART NO ONE EVER SEES.

Steve spent spring 2016 at Manhattan Beach Studios, working on Iron City’s structure, layout and engineering, as well as Set Design elements we planned to incorporate to support the story. These included a walking bridge I’d visualized based on a locale in Guanajuato, where Hugo and Alita could experience a first kiss, as well as the placement of a fountain in a central plaza. I was keen on an area with stone steps in the slum district where kids play Motorball, so the plaza would be an echo of the main arena. These elements became narrative keyframes. After more rounds of pitches, the film was finally greenlit.

Steve, Todd and a fleet of top-notch Art Directors and Set Designers tackled Iron City’s exterior sets: Ido’s Clinic, the Kansas Bar, taqueria, the slum district, the cathedral, Market Street, Ambush Alley, the Kissing Bridge and numerous other buildings. A model in 1/8” scale that fit on a seven-foot by five-foot piece of gator board brought the Iron City we’d imagined to life.

Steve and I arrived in Austin on Monday, June 13, 2016. Construction coordinator Bob Carlyle arrived with his foreman, Brent Regan. Austin construction coordinator Joe McCusker completed an extraordinary triad. Days later, the first bolt that would anchor Iron City was set.

Iron City’s core pays homage to the old ruins in Panama. We set this neighborhood as if the city grew from it. It’s defined by a stone arch at one end and a steel walking bridge at the other. Hues in warm neutrals evoke time’s perpetual nudge. It’s somber, quiet, in a state of retreat. On one side of this alley is the slum district. Like brash government-funded projects, slum district architecture is geometric and flat. Utilitarian. Hugo and his friends hang out here. We blocked out the width and length of the slum district plaza to ensure it could accommodate skate ramps for the stunt sequence/Motorball pickup game Hugo and his friends play. Todd Holland worked with stunt coordinator Garrett Warren to refine the details, plotting space for cranes and wire work.

A. SLUM DISTRICT SCENIC DETAIL

B. IDO’S EXTERIOR- INSPIRED BY A BEAUTIFUL OLD HAVANA BUILDING.

Across town is the neighborhood where Ido’s clinic is found, a cornerstone in the manga. Story-wise, all sinews and limbs in Iron City radiate from that geographic heart. Doc Ido’s clinic would be part of a grand, historic city center; its stature fading under the grind of time’s pestle. I was keen on a flatiron plan. Eliminating hard edges will create a welcoming environment, a concept I learned from Disney’s animation philosophy. Arches, columns, colonnades, porticos, all these architectural elements would imbue a sense of community to the streets.

As Iron City was built, crew congregated in spots we’d pinpointed as social hubs. They sat on curbs, under arches, on the slum district steps, ate lunch in the taqueria. Watching people interact provides all your visual cues. The crew lit Iron City’s soul.

A. DESIGNING FOR PRODUCTION. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW GOOD IT LOOKS IF IT DOESN’T WORK ON THE DAY. HOW TO MOVE CREW AND EQUIPMENT THROUGH THE STREETS, BUILDING HEIGHT (MATTE LINES), ACCESS POINTS. ALL THIS WAS CONSIDERED CAREFULLY.

Iron City’s muscle formed through plaster tonnage, 480,000 lbs. of concrete, plaster and stucco. Glen Hoofman, Kevin Tomasiello and the LA/Austin crew tacked through that thick sea as if it were a calm bay on a bright day. They sculpted Iron City one wheelbarrow of plaster at a time. It was humbling to witness.

“Let’s make Iron City like a painting,” I said to lead scenic Mike Mikita. He got it and was all in. Understated warm and cool neutrals created a nuanced color shift. Scenic Dennis Collins applied a warm silicate base coat to all Iron City, creating a unified underpainting. His applications were so artful, several areas stood pretty much on their own. From that mid-value range, the treble notes could sing. The “create Iron City as a painting” approach kept visual pathways connected as the painters worked their way through the streets. Opaque blocking next to buildings glazed with layers of washes created contrast and variation. Like a watercolor, light passed through the paint layers to luminous effect. Some buildings are rough and chipped, next to walls made smooth from centuries of applied plaster.

A. KANSAS BAR ARCHITECTURAL DETAILS.

B. KANSAS BAR WITH ITS RICH SILICATE UNDERPAINTING. THIS WARM LAYER UNIFIED ALL OF IRON CITY.

Scenic gang boss Nelson Hawthorne, who comes from a family of painters near Puerto Vallarta, knew exactly how to balance these effects while Randy Puga and his team made every door, window and trim piece meld into its setting. I asked Mike at the outset to avoid using brackish umber when aging Iron City. A go-to for most aging, I find it flattens a set, giving it a dead look. I wanted the opposite. His aging consisted of varying hues in the same family with a splash of a complement added, and then just a light touch of a darker value.

The slum district was just waiting for a narrative opportunity. I asked Graphic Designer Ellen Lampl to mock up a Motorball player that could span several walls as a mural. To that she added geometric patterns. Zach McDonald painted it with just the right amount of fade. The mural connected the set visually and made it a neighborhood.

A. DOOR AND WINDOWS SCENERY STRIPS: ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR PAUL ALIX COMPILED CANDIDATE DOORS AND WINDOWS AND INTEGRATED THE LIBRARY OF FOUND PIECES INTO THE SET.

It took dozens of doors, windows, ironwork elements and hardware to hinge Iron City together. Assistant Art Director Paul Alix and set decorator Dave Hack scoured every salvage house and architectural depot in the region. Paul measured and plotted the finds into scenery strips. Truckloads of wrought iron and manhole covers arrived. Alamo Aircraft in San Antonio became the go-to vendor for unique aerospace salvage. Art Director Bill Skinner attended to the myriad of beautiful hardware details and made sure all doors and windows held fast.

A. KISSING BRIDGE. ILLUSTRATION BY DYLAN COLE.

B. KISSING BRIDGE. THE GOAL WAS TO MAKE IRON CITY AS RIVETING BY DAY AS BY NIGHT. THE USE OF NEUTRALS ALLOWED DP BILL POPE TO CHANGE THE BUILDING COLORS AT NIGHT.

C. MARKET STREET INTERSECTION WITH SET DRESSING IN PLACE.

Set decorator Dave Hack and Graphic Designer Ellen Lampl mapped out a plan for each storefront. From this, a signage library grew. Meanwhile, an aggressive push was made to finish out and detail every interior space possible. Art Director Leslie McDonald stayed on top of this mission, so critical in bringing life, light and depth to the streets. People leaning in doorways, sparsely lit interiors, cables hanging everywhere, these were the high notes in the set.

The set decoration team planned surgical change-outs so Iron City streets could play as multiple locations, day or night. Bill Pope’s cucolori on cranes casting shadows, and dressing layers giving daylight exteriors depth and vibrancy.

I’d pulled photo references of Havana at night. Bill Pope keyed on its sparse look and varying color temperatures. Dramatic. Dave Hack’s crew layered historic lighting throughout the streets. We also needed to connect Iron City visually to the current-day presence of The Factory and the idea of government utility and upkeep. Steve keyed in on pool skimmers and ordered up. They scaled perfectly and had a great, functional, shape. He ordered globes to fit. Fabrication shop head Sarah King and the killer fabrication and set dressing teams transformed them into street lights, a tech retrofit layer. They became flashlights shining down on Iron City citizens. High concept, low-tech solutions make for fast fabrication and elegant installation.

C. SCENERY BUS IN POSITION FOR LAST NIGHT OF SHOOTING. WILD SIDEWALK SECTIONS COMPLETE THE SCENERY BUS FAÇADE.

Great friend and Graphic Designer Ellen Lampl brought diversity and cohesion to the neighborhoods, stringing melting-pot humanity together through the use of backlit signage, posters, handbills and painted graphics. Shops, nooks and crannies, street corners all were layered with graphic elements, including the ever-present Factory messaging and subversive responses. Todd Holland cared for every beautiful calle and avenida. Signage change-outs that could install quickly meant creative latitude. Which leads us to…the scenery bus… Steve’s back-pocket idea. We already had the foundation, a tanker truck we’d built for a TV series, rigged with a steel frame for a stunt roll and slide. I admit. I was a skeptic. Could we get this through the pipe too? Bob Carlyle’s team removed the tanker body, and then attached flats to the exposed steel frame. Two sides, two looks. Wild sidewalk pieces slid in with a forklift. (Every piece that moved on set was designed with forklift slots.) Voila, one less VFX headache. When there was a desire to change the end of a street or see through archways, in came the scenery bus. Jon Landau got a kick out of it. It had a sense of play. That, and it was a money saver.

Wallace Symns’ greens crew grounded Iron City, all 62,000 square feet. Bags of peat and leaves in all sizes were staged within easy reach. Ground litter, dirt in sidewalk crevices, bits of debris, moss growing in damp shadows, vines and overgrowth…good greens work is a critical layer, often neglected in a budget. Without this layer…sets just float.

It took a team of 350-plus to create Iron City. An extraordinary work ethic on the part of the crew brought Iron City to life within four months. Time to plan well provided the ability to succeed. We’ve worked with Robert Rodriguez on a number of projects over the years. He’s always given us extraordinary creative freedom. We strive to pass that philosophy on. Steve puts it well. “Everyone on your team brings their unique point of view to the table, and letting them run with it is the greatest service we can offer to the craft.” ADG

ADDITIONAL IMAGES

IDO'S CLINIC

A. First pass at Ido’s Clinic, Fall of 2015. Model drawn and assembled by Paul Alix. Steve and I were working out the beats in this pre pre production phase. An open floor plan would work best, with evidence of the clinic and living quarters segueing together. It added visual interest from every angle. Scale sized figures help us work out the pov’s. This version included an elevator that had been written in the original script. Stairway to basement is visible.

B. Ido’s Clinic evolves. This model details the staircase and stained glass windows. We tackled the Flatiron floorpan and Set Designer Al Hobbs realized the interior with stunning result. Our inspiration was a grand old structure in Havana.

C. Ido’s Clinic under construction. Recovery Room at right.

A. Ido’s Clinic. Set Photo.

B. Ido’s Clinic. Room for the crane, and depth of field. Layered backgrounds in all directions. Dave Hack’s team provided plenty of portable set dressing that could position into the foreground and give Christoph opportunities for action.

A. Doc Ido’s OR table concept art: Shane Baxley. The look had to be beefy enough to balance in scale with cyborg patients. Dave Hack’s team found a base from a medical salvage dealer. A service catwalk from a B52 bomber sourced from Alamo Aircraft in San Antonio became the tabletop.

B. Ido’s Clinic. Surgical robotic arms sketch: Paul Alix.

A. Prepping Ido’s Lab. From left: Set Dec Gang Boss Tom Christopher and Steve Joyner. Ido has just recovered the head and torso of “Alita” from the Scrapyard. We are preparing the scene where Ido will attach a cyborg body he’d made for his daughter to this head and torso. Ido’s.

A. Doc Ido and Chiren take a stroll along a Pipewalk. A modest set with big VFX background. We were running out of room, but with a little Locations help we were able to spot it and squeeze it in the schedule. Concept art: Dylan Cole.

B. Eighty foot long Pipewalk practical set piece, made from corrugated surplus runway deck. It looked great but as soon as Steve and I saw it we knew we’d have to act. We filled the channels with furring strips so Jennifer Connelly could walk the scene without getting her high heels caught in the grooves. Truss is standing by to rig blue.

C. Scenic Dennis Collins is in harmony with the textured Cathedral Rooftop.

VICTOR'S PENTHOUSE

Above Image: Vector’s Penthouse concept art: Shane Baxley.

Above Image: Vector’s Penthouse elevations: Set Designer Al Hobbs.

A. Vector’s Penthouse in progress. A sense of scale. The set was built on a 5 foot deck. VFX Supervisor Richard Hollander hoped for higher, but our ceilings were only 24 feet!

B. Vector’s Balcony. Fire pit and railing detail. We had a standby glazier ready to remove window panes if necessary. Early on there was talk of gimbaling windows. This was nixed, to my amazement.

C. Early concept art for Vector’s Bedroom by James Clyne, circa 2005.

A. Backlit Wall panels: Graphics Designer Ellen Lampl.

B. Vector’s Bedroom. We designed the bed base so we could light it from underneath. We did the same with benches surrounding the window wall and offset the back wall so we could thread light there as well. Art Director Leslie McDonald locally sourced the stunning floor, which inspired me to ask Lead Scenic Mike Mikita for the horizontal wall banding, making a 1/3 - 2/3’s ratio. CC West in Austin printed Ellen Lampl’s backlit graphic panels.